My name's Andrew. I'm 26 years old, 5'11" and around 211 pounds. I'm looking to get back down to around 185-190, since I'm kind of embarassed at how bad my diet's gotten (huge portions and way too many sweets) and how inactive I've become over the last year or so. I really like the goal of this website, as (for the moment at least) going to the gym is a huge disincentive for a number of reasons.

I just started today, but am not sure of a few things:

-Should I stretch at any point? Before? After?

-I just started L2D1, but am thinking of going back to L1 since I a) just flat-out can't do a pull-up, and b) only was able to do 13 rounds. Substituted 3 body weight rows with a towel in place of each pull-up, but it seems like cheating, so I'd like to get to the point where I can do one real pull-up before moving beyond L2 anyway. Also, in case it matters, push-ups were the stopping point for me, the reason I had to rest for a few minutes. Squats were ok (though my legs felt a bit rubbery).

Hi andrew and welcome to SF. I trust you'll enjoy the program and soon see the benefits for yourself!

As for your questions:

- yes, it is always aviseable to warm-up/stretch before you commence a workout. It will allow the mucles to get “loose”, warm and ready for what is about to follow. A suggestion of what to do is given in the “how to get started” section of this site:

Warm up by going through the exercises at a super slow, easy pace, working on form for several minutes.

some people do advocate cooling down after a workout, but i'm not a great fan - suppose it's personal taste.

as for your second question, here is some advice i gave to someone some time ago:

unfortunately i cannot answer you on your body row/sub question, as i have never done them. one thing that you can consider though is doing chin-ups (if you're not doing them already, in which case my advice will not help.)

a chin-up is when you grab the bar with you palms facing towards your body.
a pull-up is when you grab the bar with your palms facing away from your body.

if you are doing pull-ups as described above, try chin-ups - it's way easier and you mind find that you'll actually be able to do it.

judging by the number of rounds you did on L2D1 i would also suggest you go go back to L1.

I tried doing a single pull-up last night, and my right elbow/bicep/arm was hurting pretty bad for hours afterward which makes me thin, which makes me think I tweaked something. Going to try to get it checked out today. Bah.

And thank you for your advice. The diet will be the biggest challenge for me, no doubt, so I'll try to take it slow. I'm used to eating a lot of junk (not just carbs at the wrong time of day - I'm talking about more tradition junk food).